Nine in ten Australians read news media: emma

News media is read by nine in 10 Australians, or 16.75 million of the adult population, in print and on digital devices, according to the latest emma (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) data* released today.

News media readership remained steady during the month of June, reaching 93 per cent of the adult population and consumption of news media on desktops/laptops, mobiles and tablets reached 13.2 million people, or 73 per cent of the population.

In addition, 13.7 million people, or 76 per cent of the population, read a newspaper in the past four weeks. Metropolitan newspapers continue to dominate the news media sector, reaching 63 per cent of the population, or 11.3 million readers. Regional newspapers reach 3.4 million readers (19%) while national titles delivered a combined print audience of 2.34 million.

More than 2.1 million people commute to work by rail, ferry and bus across the five capital cities every month and 94 per cent of these commuters engage with news media. Digital news media is read by 81 per cent of commuters.

NewsMediaWorks CEO Mark Hollands said news publishers continued to deliver large, engaged, quality audiences, including the important commuter audience.

“Digital news media is an ideal and important platform for reaching metro commuters on their way to and from work each day at a time when they are looking to be entertained and informed. News media is powerful when it comes to connecting advertisers with this audience and influencing their decision making,” Mr Hollands said.

“The stability of news media readership further demonstrates that our audience is loyal and engaged with quality, influential and trusted journalism.”

According to the emma data for the 12 months to June 2016, The Sydney Morning Herald is Australia’s highest-reaching title across all platforms with 6.06 million readers. The Daily Telegraph followed, reaching 4.63 million readers and the Herald Sun on 4.24 million.

^NB: With the recent release of Nielsen’s Digital Ratings (Monthly), thewest.com.au’s mobile and tablet audience is under-represented. This is a result of restrictions in Nielsen’s methodology being able to capture iOS mobile secure sessions (HTTPS) due to privacy restrictions inherent to the operating system. This gap will be addressed by Nielsen with the launch of Digital Content Ratings in the coming months.

* Source: emmaTM, 12 months to June 2016. Readership based on last four weeks. Trends compared with 12 months to June 2015. Survey conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, people 14+, Nielsen Digital Ratings (Monthly), June 2016. The emma data for the 12 months to June 2016 includes the new Nielsen Digital Ratings Monthly (DRM). This replaces the previous digital currency, Nielsen Online Ratings (NOR). Due to this change of methodology, there is a trend break in the data that means digital audience comparisons to previous periods are not valid.